This past Sunday at WWE Battleground, Rob Van Dam lost his World Title Hardcore Rules match against Alberto Del Rio. It wasn't a surprise. It was expected. When RVD returned to WWE at Money in the Bank in July, there were reports that he would be on the road with WWE for about 90 days and then he would take a break before coming back. Here we are about 90 days later and it's time for that break.

PWInsider insists that reports of Rob Van Dam not re-signing with WWE are incorrect. RVD is already under contract, as we have noted, his deal calls for him to work 90 days and then take time off, as much as he wants. Van Dam can come back whenever he wants for another 90 days of work.

This is a deal that RVD and Triple H came up with, one that was signed off on by Vince McMahon. One of the reasons for the deal is RVD has so many of his own projects going on. RVD and WWE are on good terms with a new action figure coming out soon and a possible DVD in the future.

While RVD is away from WWE, he can still work for other wrestling companies but cannot appear on any of their TV programs. Word now is that he may be gone until the Royal Rumble season. WWE creative wants him to return then and work from the Royal Rumble through Extreme Rules, which obviously is more than 90 days.

If you head over to WWE.com they point out that he has chosen to take time off (they mentioned it on Raw) and they made note of his losses in World Title matches, a US Title match against Dean Ambrose and the Money in the Bank ladder match. In other words, he lost a lot of big matches.

I think the schedule idea with RVD is a great one assuming he returns in January like most of us expect. It gives him time to rest his body, he'll get a nice reaction when he comes back and that January to April period is obviously the best business period for WWE as a company. Everybody is a little more motivated during WrestleMania season, of course. Now that he's in his early 40s it makes sense to take time off from a full time WWE schedule and I like that is willing to work with him on that.

I'm not sure what RVD's business interests outside of WWE are. I know he owned a comic book store at one point. He's tried acting and been in some small films. I follow him on Twitter (@therealrvd) and he responds to fans often while also making note of when it's 4:20 in his area. It's a marijuana reference. It's good to know he has his priorities in order.

It will be interesting to see if other older talents will have similar deals to RVD in terms of being full time and then being off for a three month run. I think we can pencil in Chris Jericho to return in the new year although I don't expect that to be revealed any time soon. It's important to have veteran wrestlers that the fans know and love as part-time players because it can help the younger talent on the show.

IN OTHER NEWS

- John Cena did a lot of media appearances on Tuesday in the New York City area. He appeared on shows like ABC's Good Morning America and a few ESPN shows. One of those shows was Sportsnation. Here's a screencap of Cena show off his surgically repaired torn triceps. Thanks to @arda_ocal and @SteveTSN for tweeting the pic.

I touched on it in the Raw Deal already, so I won't go too in depth here. I just think it's amazing that the guy will be back in the ring two months after torn triceps surgery when doctors said it would be four months. He's a freak athlete who has shown an amazing ability to heal from injuries faster than most people. I'm not accusing him of taking any substances to speed up the process or anything like that. I just think it's remarkable.

There's a report on PWInsider this morning (here on NoDQ) that says Cena's injury was a partial tear rather than a full tear, so as a result he didn't need four months to get back from this injury. That makes sense. With the roster being thin at the top and ratings going down a bit it makes sense that they would bring Cena back as soon as possible.

- Stephanie McMahon sold more WWE stock this because I guess that's good for business to sell off company stock when you're an executive at the company. (WrestlingInc)

She's sold over $500,000 in WWE stock in the last week. Damn, good for her. Then again it must not feel great to have to sell stock that quickly. Maybe that's why she plays such a convincing bitch on TV. She's not playing, after all.

"You assholes need to make me more money. I'm tired of selling stock!" That's what she's thinking. Probably. Yes, she hears voices in her head too.

- Former WWE Diva Maryse was in England and she did a quick interview you can listen to here.

"You never know. I had a really great career, a long run. I was the longest Divas champion. You never know."

No offense to her, but five years isn't that long of a run. She's 30 years old. Perhaps a WWE return is in her future, but she keeps busy with a modeling career and has a jewelry line. Not sure if it does well for her or not.

She revealed that she's getting married to The Miz in February in the Bahamas. I wish them the best in their marriage endeavors.

- Lastly, I spent my Saturday at the Hammer Town Comic Con in Hamilton, Ontario (about 90 minutes from home for me). I was there helping out my good friend former WWE Diva and TNA Knockout (9 combined title reigns by the way) Mickie James. I spent the day with her as she took photos with fans, signed merchandise items, participated in a Q&A and did some interviews too. As far as her current career status in wrestling goes, she's a free agent. Don't take my word for it, though. You can hear it from her in this video interview she did with Live Audio Wrestling's Jason Agnew.

Before you watch it, make note of something. I appear in the background of the video. It's at about 7:40. There's the walk in the background, then the "oh is there a camera there" face and then casually I walked away. It was intentionally on purpose. That's the story I'm sticking with anyway. I wouldn't mind making a career of it.

What's great about the comments is that the most "likes" so far is from the guy mentioning me. Keep liking that comment. The more the merrier!

Back to the subject at hand, if I was WWE I'd have interest in bringing back Mickie. She has a history with the company, she's won more titles in WWE than any active woman in wrestling right now and she's an awesome performer whether she's a heel or face. So many people that came up to her on Saturday mentioned that they want to see her against AJ Lee especially. It would be awesome. I hope it happens.

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That's all for me. Some days it's easier to make jokes about the news stories. Other days not so much. This is one of those days where it is harder to make those jokes.

Check out the other great work here on TJRWrestling, comment on the articles (don't be shy) and have a great day.

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